Recent advancement and improvement of hydraulic fracturing technology has led to dramatic increases of both oil and gas production and reserves. The use of fracturing technology makes it economically viable to develop new geologic formations. As such, hydraulic fracturing is common for both newly drilled petroleum wells, and also established wells in which production in is decline. Therefore, hydraulic fracturing is an increasingly important aspect of oil and gas operations.
The hydraulic fracturing of an on-shore well is a large scale endeavor. Often a hydraulic fracturing operation requires ten to thirty different pieces of large equipment and, in some cases, millions of pounds of proppant and thousands of gallons of water to be injected in the well. United States Patent Publication 2014/0305769 to Eiden et. al provides a significant advance by densifying proppant storage for rapid deployment around a well site; however, it remains the case that this dense concentration of equipment may be very noisy—frequently producing sustained noise in excess of 110 dBA. Most modern fracturing jobs require several high-powered pumping units to generate the pumping pressure required to fracture the petroleum reservoir downhole, as well as a blender for mixing chemicals, water or gel, and proppant prior to pumping the mixture down the well. In cases where gel or polymer is used to suspend the proppant during pumping, a hydration unit also is required to mix and hydrate (and in some cases cross-link) the polymer gel system prior to providing the gel to the blender.
A major consequence of the power and breadth of the equipment necessary to create hydraulic fractures is noise. All hydraulic fracture equipment generates some noise, but blending units, hydration units and pumping units require large engines and radiators that are especially loud. In remote well locations, oil field workers can be protected by the loud noise by personal protective equipment. However, in well locations in close proximity to residential or commercial areas, noise represents a serious problem. Some local and state ordinances limit noise levels during certain hours or set maximum noise thresholds to protect residences and businesses. In some circumstances, performing hydraulic fracturing becomes difficult or impossible due to these noise restrictions, potentially limiting the viability of otherwise productive and economical wells.